General Vezax Strategy Guide - Ulduar Raid WotLK Classic

By Beanna Updated: 2023/02/08

General Vezax Strategy for Ulduar in Wrath of the Lich King Classic

General Vezax
Level: 83 (Boss)
Health: 30.7M (25-man) / 8.3M (10-man)
Hard-mode: Yes

General VezaxAura of DespairGeneral VezaxShadow CrashShadow CrashShadow CrashShadow CrashShadow CrashGeneral VezaxMark of the FacelessShadow CrashBlinkDemonic Circle: TeleportDisengageNitro BoostsGeneral VezaxSearing FlamesSearing FlamesSurge of DarknessShield WallDivine ProtectionPain Suppression

Saronite Vapors

Saronite VaporsSaronite VaporsSaronite VaporsSaronite VaporsSaronite Vapors

Saronite Animus

General Vezaxhard modeSaronite VaporsSaronite VaporsSaronite Animus

The Saronite Animus will shroud General Vezax in a Saronite Barrier as it spawns, reducing its damage taken by 99% and forcing you to defeat the Animus first to take down the barrier. General Vezax is still active in the fight nonetheless and will continue using all of his abilities, including Searing Flames which still needs a quick rotation and Surge of Darkness which requires defensive cooldowns.

The Saronite Animus deals damage similar to General Vezax and should be tanked by a second tank.

The only ability of the Saronite Animus is Profound Darkness. Every 2 seconds, it will deal 750 shadow damage to the entire raid and increase their shadow damage taken by 10% (stacking) until the end of the fight. After a minute of stacking this debuff, shadow damage taken is increased by 300% and Profound Darkness deals over 2k damage to the whole raid. Shadow Crash now also one-shots and can't be overlooked.

Because of the soft-enrage nature of the stacking Profound Darkness debuffs, save Heroism/Bloodlust to take down the Saronite Animus as quickly as possible. Casters however need to be very careful with threat, as they will deal increased damage from the Shadow Crash buff compared to the tank.

Recommended Raid Composition
Tanks: 1-2 — 2 tanks are recommended if you attempt the hard mode, as tanking both General Vezax and the Saronite Animus together requires a lot of gear.
Healers: 4-6 — While healers' mana can make or break this fight, you also want to be done with it as fast as possible before everyone runs into mana issues.
DPS: 17-20

General Vezax Tips for Ulduar in Wrath of the Lich King ClassicTips for Tanks on General Vezax

Communicate and coordinate with healers to best combine and rotate defensive cooldowns to mitigate Surge of Darkness damage every minute.

Tips for Melee on General Vezax

Organize a kick rotation with 3-4 players to interrupt every Searing Flames cast throughout the fight and be vocal.

Set General Vezax as focus and use a focus macro for your interrupts to continue kicking the boss while you're attacking the Saronite Animus.

Tips for Ranged on General Vezax

Be quick to react to Mark of the Faceless and run away from nearby players as the healing done to Vezax can undo a lot of the raids efforts.

Stay mindful of your threat because the Shadow Crash buff will increase your damage output by a lot.

Tips for Healers on General Vezax

Communicate and coordinate with the tank to best combine and rotate defensive cooldowns to mitigate Surge of Darkness damage every minute.

Priests may want to stack with ranged DPS in the dark puddles since he Shadow Crash buff will reduce the mana cost of but not its absorption.

General Vezax Abilities for Ulduar in Wrath of the Lich King Classic

Ability

Description

Aura of Despair

Prevents mana regeneration from nearly all natural sources. Aspect of the Viper, Judgements of the Wise, Shamanistic Rage, and Spiritual Attunement remain at least partially effective. Also reduces melee attack speed by 20%.

Shadow Crash

Fires a shadow missile at a target, dealing 11310 to 12690 Shadow damage to all enemies near the impact point and knocking them away. After impact, leaves an energy field that lingers for 20 sec, increasing magical damage dealt by 100%, increasing casting speed by 100%, reducing healing done by 75%, and reducing mana costs by 75%.

Mark of the Faceless

Inflicts an ancient malediction on a target, siphoning 5000 health every 1 sec. from enemies near the target, for 10 sec. Vezax will heal for 20 times more health than he has drained.

Searing Flames

Deals 13875 to 16125 Fire damage to all enemies within 100 yards, superheating their armor and reducing its ability to protect them by 75% for 10 sec.